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Entry tags:
RP, sexuality, and romance
So apparently there is this thing called Asexually April, and I only just found out about it--a fanfic challenge throughout the month celebrating asexuality. And now it's almost May and I have zero in the way of ideas. Also, I think it's only on Tumblr spreading to AO3, so yeah.
Anyway, that ended up getting me thinking about the characters I play and how I interpret their sexual and romantic preferences. Now, it's not the be-all, end-all because I've just started playing some and I never know when I'm going to pick up someone new. But this is my mindset.
First off, as a default, I start at asexuality unless canon shows otherwise. Why so? Well, personal bias for one. I'm grey-asexual myself. But I figure not making any assumptions is a good start, a kind of blank slate. It's better than starting off with a heterocentric bias, I guess.
Let's start with one of my oldest muses, mostly current ones with one I haven't played in a while:
Karone: First off, she's from an entirely different planet, which would have very different attitudes toward sexuality and romance. So the different classifications would probably have her confused. But she would agree with the distinction between sexual preference and romantic preference, due to her upbringing among the UAE. As a general rule, evil bad guys don't love. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between, and generally considered odd. For example, Zedd realizing that he did genuinely fall in love with Rita, Ecliptor's parental love for Karone, the fealty that Villamax displayed toward Trakeena, etc. Desire and attraction are easy enough for bad guys to understand, but selfless love and devotion are counterintuitive.
So as for Karone's preference? So far, she's only shown interests in guys. Canonically, Zhane was definitely more along the attraction bit, along with the fascination and admiration that he would save her life. In Glaxcin, Daiki is someone she can sympathize with and really has a lot of fun with, so things develop from there. Her sexual/romantic preference is not very easy to describe, being based off an alien concept. Maybe grey-romantic?
Ben: Canonically attracted to human women, so we start off at heterosexual/heteroromantic. However, coming from a world where humans and aliens having sexual and romantic relationships is normal, he's very open-minded, so he's probably "questioning" in terms of sexuality. I see him developing as panromantic/pansexual pretty easily.
Aqua: Still not entirely sure, to be honest, since it's never come up when I've played her.
Ren: Given his narrow-minded focus on Eri and Eri alone, I have to say he's demisexual/demiromantic. In terms of romance, he could definitely develop a non-sexual romantic relationship with another person of either gender (you definitely get the sense with Shinji, Tezuka, and even to some extent Yui and Kitaoka), but he's hyperfocused on one person to the point that I call him Erisexual.
Scott: Gay but possibly biromantic. I find it very hard to picture him with a woman, though I will admit he probably wouldn't object to a non-sexual romantic relationship with Summer, Tenaya, Dr. K, or Vasquez. But he's definitely sexually attracted to Dillon. The Dillon/Scott hints were intentionally played by their actors.
The muses I might not have had for as long, but I play strongly enough:
Kendrix: Questioning, in terms of both sexuality and romance. This comes down to Saban-era Power Rangers being terrible at writing women's friendships and relationships. They definitely wanted to hint at a heteroromantic relationship with her and Leo (thus implying heterosexuality too), but she and Maya were very touchy-feely with each other at times ("Memories From Mirinoi" with her feeling stood up, and the photo Karone found of them in "Protect the Quasar Saber" that really had her feeling like she couldn't replace what Maya had lost), so biromantic/panromantic is possible. In terms of sexuality, so far she's grey-heterosexual, with her canonical hints with Leo and her earlier interaction with Kaitou (yes, I have two different Pink Galaxy Rangers in two different games in relationships with two different Daiki Kaitous. That's one HELL of a treasure, dude). But she's edging toward biromantic with her interaction with both Kaitou and Yuri. Overall, for someone who thought she was straight, she's really not sure anymore.
Eiji: Asexual, panromantic. Yes, I've only been playing him for about a month or two, but this is definitely the impression I get from him in canon. He's someone with a lack of desire entirely, and he seems pretty much oblivious to people's romantic interests in him (Hina certainly likes him, and in a noncanonical Net Movie he explains that they have a deep platonic relationship; there is also his old friend from high school who was clearly in love with him, leading to a crisis with a Yummy when he wanted to be Eiji's one person he could depend on and wanted him to rediscover his desire). But I don't think he's aromantic--he's definitely capable of giving love to other people, and as he regains his desire, I can see him being able to engage in a loving relationship with someone of any gender/sex--Hina, Ankh, Goto, Date, Date's abs, Shingo...anybody. But I can't see him being interested in sex. I think that's too much desire to ask of him.
Jin: Canonically, we start at straight like we did with Ben--he is stated to have had a crush on Yoko's mother, and it's indicated to be heterosexual as well as heteroromantic. But he's clearly very fluid with his sexuality and very comfortable with it. His interactions with Ryuji and Kuroki are just this side of flirting--okay, well, for the most part, they are flirting--and it's hard to tell how seriously he takes anything. My headcanon is that he had sex with Yoko's mom at least once, and thus isn't sure if Yoko's his daughter or not, so at the very least, I see him as heterosexual. But absolutely panromantic, with a very strong possibility that he's also pansexual. I don't even think he's questioning anything; I think he just goes with the flow. Is there a grey-pansexual?
Newest muses I'm still working through:
Korra: Canonically heterosexual/heteroromantic to start. Not sure how that would develop down the line, but it definitely depends on interactions with particular people, so there's possibly some demi stuff there.
Artemis: Canonically heterosexual/heteroromantic. So far, I think I'm happy with this assessment.
Miharu: He's barely in MEGAMAX, so I can't say anything canonically about his sexual or romantic preference. For now, I'm playing him asexual/demiromantic as default.
Anyway, that ended up getting me thinking about the characters I play and how I interpret their sexual and romantic preferences. Now, it's not the be-all, end-all because I've just started playing some and I never know when I'm going to pick up someone new. But this is my mindset.
First off, as a default, I start at asexuality unless canon shows otherwise. Why so? Well, personal bias for one. I'm grey-asexual myself. But I figure not making any assumptions is a good start, a kind of blank slate. It's better than starting off with a heterocentric bias, I guess.
Let's start with one of my oldest muses, mostly current ones with one I haven't played in a while:
Karone: First off, she's from an entirely different planet, which would have very different attitudes toward sexuality and romance. So the different classifications would probably have her confused. But she would agree with the distinction between sexual preference and romantic preference, due to her upbringing among the UAE. As a general rule, evil bad guys don't love. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between, and generally considered odd. For example, Zedd realizing that he did genuinely fall in love with Rita, Ecliptor's parental love for Karone, the fealty that Villamax displayed toward Trakeena, etc. Desire and attraction are easy enough for bad guys to understand, but selfless love and devotion are counterintuitive.
So as for Karone's preference? So far, she's only shown interests in guys. Canonically, Zhane was definitely more along the attraction bit, along with the fascination and admiration that he would save her life. In Glaxcin, Daiki is someone she can sympathize with and really has a lot of fun with, so things develop from there. Her sexual/romantic preference is not very easy to describe, being based off an alien concept. Maybe grey-romantic?
Ben: Canonically attracted to human women, so we start off at heterosexual/heteroromantic. However, coming from a world where humans and aliens having sexual and romantic relationships is normal, he's very open-minded, so he's probably "questioning" in terms of sexuality. I see him developing as panromantic/pansexual pretty easily.
Aqua: Still not entirely sure, to be honest, since it's never come up when I've played her.
Ren: Given his narrow-minded focus on Eri and Eri alone, I have to say he's demisexual/demiromantic. In terms of romance, he could definitely develop a non-sexual romantic relationship with another person of either gender (you definitely get the sense with Shinji, Tezuka, and even to some extent Yui and Kitaoka), but he's hyperfocused on one person to the point that I call him Erisexual.
Scott: Gay but possibly biromantic. I find it very hard to picture him with a woman, though I will admit he probably wouldn't object to a non-sexual romantic relationship with Summer, Tenaya, Dr. K, or Vasquez. But he's definitely sexually attracted to Dillon. The Dillon/Scott hints were intentionally played by their actors.
The muses I might not have had for as long, but I play strongly enough:
Kendrix: Questioning, in terms of both sexuality and romance. This comes down to Saban-era Power Rangers being terrible at writing women's friendships and relationships. They definitely wanted to hint at a heteroromantic relationship with her and Leo (thus implying heterosexuality too), but she and Maya were very touchy-feely with each other at times ("Memories From Mirinoi" with her feeling stood up, and the photo Karone found of them in "Protect the Quasar Saber" that really had her feeling like she couldn't replace what Maya had lost), so biromantic/panromantic is possible. In terms of sexuality, so far she's grey-heterosexual, with her canonical hints with Leo and her earlier interaction with Kaitou (yes, I have two different Pink Galaxy Rangers in two different games in relationships with two different Daiki Kaitous. That's one HELL of a treasure, dude). But she's edging toward biromantic with her interaction with both Kaitou and Yuri. Overall, for someone who thought she was straight, she's really not sure anymore.
Eiji: Asexual, panromantic. Yes, I've only been playing him for about a month or two, but this is definitely the impression I get from him in canon. He's someone with a lack of desire entirely, and he seems pretty much oblivious to people's romantic interests in him (Hina certainly likes him, and in a noncanonical Net Movie he explains that they have a deep platonic relationship; there is also his old friend from high school who was clearly in love with him, leading to a crisis with a Yummy when he wanted to be Eiji's one person he could depend on and wanted him to rediscover his desire). But I don't think he's aromantic--he's definitely capable of giving love to other people, and as he regains his desire, I can see him being able to engage in a loving relationship with someone of any gender/sex--Hina, Ankh, Goto, Date, Date's abs, Shingo...anybody. But I can't see him being interested in sex. I think that's too much desire to ask of him.
Jin: Canonically, we start at straight like we did with Ben--he is stated to have had a crush on Yoko's mother, and it's indicated to be heterosexual as well as heteroromantic. But he's clearly very fluid with his sexuality and very comfortable with it. His interactions with Ryuji and Kuroki are just this side of flirting--okay, well, for the most part, they are flirting--and it's hard to tell how seriously he takes anything. My headcanon is that he had sex with Yoko's mom at least once, and thus isn't sure if Yoko's his daughter or not, so at the very least, I see him as heterosexual. But absolutely panromantic, with a very strong possibility that he's also pansexual. I don't even think he's questioning anything; I think he just goes with the flow. Is there a grey-pansexual?
Newest muses I'm still working through:
Korra: Canonically heterosexual/heteroromantic to start. Not sure how that would develop down the line, but it definitely depends on interactions with particular people, so there's possibly some demi stuff there.
Artemis: Canonically heterosexual/heteroromantic. So far, I think I'm happy with this assessment.
Miharu: He's barely in MEGAMAX, so I can't say anything canonically about his sexual or romantic preference. For now, I'm playing him asexual/demiromantic as default.